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  1. ABSTRACT

    We describe the target selection and characteristics of the DESI Peculiar Velocity Survey, the largest survey of peculiar velocities (PVs) using both the fundamental plane (FP) and the Tully–Fisher (TF) relationship planned to date. We detail how we identify suitable early-type galaxies (ETGs) for the FP and suitable late-type galaxies (LTGs) for the TF relation using the photometric data provided by the DESI Legacy Imaging Survey DR9. Subsequently, we provide targets for 373 533 ETGs and 118 637 LTGs within the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) 5-yr footprint. We validate these photometric selections using existing morphological classifications. Furthermore, we demonstrate using survey validation data that DESI is able to measure the spectroscopic properties to sufficient precision to obtain PVs for our targets. Based on realistic DESI fibre assignment simulations and spectroscopic success rates, we predict the final DESI PV Survey will obtain ∼133 000 FP-based and ∼53 000 TF-based PV measurements over an area of 14 000 deg2. We forecast the ability of using these data to measure the clustering of galaxy positions and PVs from the combined DESI PV and Bright Galaxy Surveys (BGS), which allows for cancellation of cosmic variance at low redshifts. With these forecasts, we anticipate a 4 per cent statistical measurement on the growth rate of structure at z < 0.15. This is over two times better than achievable with redshifts from the BGS alone. The combined DESI PV and BGS will enable the most precise tests to date of the time and scale dependence of large-scale structure growth at z < 0.15.

     
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  2. ABSTRACT

    We present the discovery that ATLAS18mlw was a tidal disruption event (TDE) in the galaxy WISEA J073544.83+663717.3, at a luminosity distance of 334 Mpc. Initially discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on 2018 March 17.3, the TDE nature of the transient was uncovered only recently with the re-reduction of a SuperNova Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS) spectrum. This spectrum, taken by the Spectral Classification of Astronomical Transients (SCAT) survey, shows a strong blue continuum and a broad H α emission line. Here, we present roughly 6 yr of optical survey photometry beginning before the TDE to constrain active galactic nucleus activity, optical spectroscopy of the transient, and a detailed study of the host galaxy properties through analysis of archival photometry and a host spectrum. ATLAS18mlw was detected in ground-based light curves for roughly 2 months. From a blackbody fit to the transient spectrum and bolometric correction of the optical light curve, we conclude that ATLAS18mlw is best explained by a low-luminosity TDE with a peak luminosity of log(L [erg s−1]) = 43.5 ± 0.2. The TDE classification is further supported by the quiescent Balmer strong nature of the host galaxy. We also calculated the TDE decline rate from the bolometric light curve and find ΔL40 = −0.7 ± 0.2 dex, making ATLAS18mlw a member of the growing class of ‘faint and fast’ TDEs with low peak luminosities and fast decline rates.

     
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  3. null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT We constrain the evolution of the brightest cluster galaxy plus intracluster light (BCG + ICL) using an ensemble of 42 galaxy groups and clusters that span redshifts of z = 0.05−1.75 and masses of M500,c= 2 × 1013−1015 M⊙. Specifically, we measure the relationship between the BCG + ICL stellar mass M⋆ and M500,c at projected radii 10 < r < 100 kpc for three different epochs. At intermediate redshift ($\bar{z}=0.40$), where we have the best data, we find M⋆ ∝ M500,c0.48 ± 0.06. Fixing the exponent of this power law for all redshifts, we constrain the normalization of this relation to be 2.08 ± 0.21 times higher at $\bar{z}=0.40$ than at high redshift ($\bar{z}=1.55$). We find no change in the relation from intermediate to low redshift ($\bar{z}=0.10$). In other words, for fixed M500,c, M⋆ at 10 < r < 100 kpc increases from $\bar{z}=1.55$ to $\bar{z}=0.40$ and not significantly thereafter. Theoretical models predict that the physical mass growth of the cluster from z = 1.5 to z = 0 within r500,c is 1.4×, excluding evolution due to definition of r500,c. We find that M⋆ within the central 100 kpc increases by ∼3.8× over the same period. Thus, the growth of M⋆ in this central region is more than a factor of 2 greater than the physical mass growth of the cluster as a whole. Furthermore, the concentration of the BCG + ICL stellar mass, defined by the ratio of stellar mass within 10 kpc to the total stellar mass within 100 kpc, decreases with increasing M500,c at all z. We interpret this result as evidence for inside–out growth of the BCG + ICL over the past 10 Gyr, with stellar mass assembly occurring at larger radii at later times. 
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